When food allergy occurred a fat matter was found to have increased - there was possibility that it could be used as an index

Recently the NHK News On-line reported the following:

食物アレルギーで増える脂質を発見 指標に使える可能性も

12月18日 5時21分

食物アレルギーの症状が出た時に尿に含まれる特定の脂質の濃度が高まることを東京大学の研究グループがマウスを使った実験で明らかにし、グループはアレルギー反応の強さの客観的な指標に使える可能性があるとしています。

食物アレルギーは、牛乳や小麦などの食べ物を摂取するとアレルギー症状が起きる病気ですが、症状の重さと連動して変化する指標はこれまでありませんでした。

東京大学大学院の村田幸久准教授などのグループは、卵などの食物アレルギーの状態を再現したマウスで尿の中に含まれる「ＰＧＤＭ」と呼ばれる脂質が多く検出されることを発見しました。また、この「ＰＧＤＭ」はごく初期のアレルギー症状の時から検出され、症状が重くなるほど濃度が高くなったということです。

さらに、「ＰＧＤＭ」は食物アレルギーに関わる免疫細胞から放出された物質が変化してできていることもわかり、アレルギー反応の強さの客観的な指標に使える可能性があるとしています。

村田准教授は「食物アレルギーではアナフィラキシーなどの強い症状が突然出ることがあるが、この指標を使えば事前に兆候を把握し、より安全に診断や治療を行えるようになる可能性がある」と話しています。

My translation

By an experiment using a mouse a study group of the University of Tokyo found that the density of a specific fat matter in urine would increase when symptoms of food allergy occurred, the group assumed that there was a possibility that it could be used as an index to show objectively the strength of the allergic reaction.

Food allergy was a sickness due to the occurrence of allergic reaction when milk and wheat food were consumed, but up to now there was no index to show the intensity of the symptom and the inter-related changes.

A group consisted of Yukihisa Murata associate professor of the University of Tokyo graduate school and others found that "PGDM" the so called fat matter usually found in the urine of the mouse was found to have increased when a state of allergic to eggs and other food was induced. Also it was said that this "PGDM" could be detected at the very early stage of allergic symptoms, and its concentration became higher as the symptoms became intense.

Furthermore, "PGDM" was released by the immune cell related to the food allergy and also it could be used to understand the changes, there was a possibility that it could be used as an index to objectively show the strength of allergic reactions.

Associate professor Murata said that "in food allergy the strong symptom of anaphylaxis and other may show up suddenly, when this index is used it is possible to grasp a sign beforehand, and the checks and treatments could then be carried out more safely."

   I think this discovery is a great contribution to the treatment of food allergy.